ISLAMABAD, August 18, 2017: The National Assembly began debate on the Elections Bill, 2017 while suspending the remaining agenda appearing on the Orders of the Day on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the proceedings during eighth sitting of 44^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for two hours and 25 minutes, while the sitting remained suspended for 33 minutes due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started at 1042 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 34 minutes.
• As many as 53 (15%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 72 (21%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, QWP-S, JI, ANP and APML attended the sitting.
• Five minority lawmakers were also present.

Output

• Six lawmakers took part in the discussion on the Elections Bill, 2017 that continued for an hour and 35 minutes.
• The House adopted two separate motions to suspend its Friday’s business except Elections Bill and the upcoming sitting’s (Monday’s) Question Hour.

Order and Institutionalization

• A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1053 hours which led to the suspension of the sitting for 33 minutes. The House proceedings resumed at 1126 hours.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on the National Assembly website.

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted